A structure not even big enough to be called a bridge on a road that supporters attending President Donald Trump’s Jan. 28 rally in Wildwood might use was closed by state Department of Transportation officials because it could collapse.

What would normally be an unremarked road repair has conservative radio hosts and Breitbart News asking if this is Gov. Phil Murphy’s version of “Bridgegate,” the infamous scandal that closed access lanes in Fort Lee to the George Washington Bridge as political retribution — and engulfed former Gov. Chris Christie’s administration.

After all, Murphy, a Democrat, is a constant critic of Trump, a Republican.

State officials, however, said they had to close a less-than-a-mile portion of Route 47 “due to numerous sinkholes that have compromised the roadway,” including a three-foot sinkhole that developed this week, said Stephen Schapiro, a DOT spokesman. The DOT sent out press advisories on Jan. 17.

Route 47 is a mostly two-lane state highway — also known as Delsea Drive — which spans 70 miles from Camden County to Cape May County. While the final portion of the road is one of two main ways onto the barrier island, the area that is closed is further west of the Garden State Parkway and Route 9 and not the likely route most drivers will take.

The location of the closed section is between Indian Trail Road and Springers Mill Road in Middle Township.

The .7 mile road closure on Route 47 is west of the Parkway and not the common route most people traveling to Wildwood would take.

When asked by NJ Advance Media, state DOT officials said the structure that carries Route 47 over a creek was in danger of collapsing.

“This is necessary emergency work that was scheduled before the announcement of the President’s visit and unfortunately cannot wait,” Schapiro said. “The start of this project was not moved up.”

The culvert, which is two iron pipes that carry the highway over Dias Creek, have cracked and allowed water to erode ground that supports the pipes, he said. That caused “an unstable condition making it unsafe to drive on this section of Route 47,” Schapiro said.

“Our primary concern is for the safety of the residents who use this roadway every day, including many school buses,” he said. “To delay the project any longer will significantly impact the region’s tourism season.”

That figure could not be independently verified. A Trump campaign spokeswoman told NJ Advance Media that it doesn’t comment on ticket numbers. While news organizations have reported on crowd sizes at other Trump rallies, news reports often do not include the number of people who requested tickets ahead of an event. Tickets for the Wildwood rally were made available online for free.

Conservatives on talk radio and Facebook questioned the timing of the project and asked why it couldn’t wait until after Trump’s rally.

DOT officials downplayed the effect of closing the highway. The quickest routes to Wildwood are straight down the Garden State Parkway if you’re coming from points north, or the Atlantic City Expressway to the Parkway for those coming from the Philadelphia area. Some South Jersey residents will also take Route 55 to Route 47, and then take the Parkway, rather than travel Route 47 all the way into Wildwood.

“The primary routes from the Philadelphia area or Millville to Wildwood would not utilize this segment of Route 47. Other major highways are the preferred route to Wildwood. To the extent a visitor is on Route 47, the detour route would extend their trip by only five minutes,” Schapiro said.

This is not Trump’s first visit to the Garden State. As of August 2019, he spent 77 days at his Bedminster Golf Club, second only to 99 days he spent at his Mar-a-Lago resort.